Twenty-four people across Victoria living with experiences of being diagnosed as BPD shared their life stories to inform the development of this resource. They came from diverse backgrounds and were aged between twenty-two and sixty-three years old at the time of their interviews. We spoke with seventeen women and three men, three people identified as non-binary, and one person identified their gender as being fluid. Eleven participants identified as heterosexual, six as gay or lesbian, six as bisexual, and one as queer.
Most participants were born in Australia. Others indicated the United Kingdom, Poland, India, and Chile as places of birth. People’s educational backgrounds varied, with two people completing high school education, ten people studying after high school but not at university, and twelve people completing university level education. Most participants were employed at the time of interview, with sixteen people in the workforce, four studying, and four people not in employment or studying.
There were varying lengths of time that people had been living with a diagnosis at the time of their interview in 2022, which would have influenced their experience of, and relationship with, the diagnosis. All but one participant received a diagnosis in the healthcare system. At the time of interview four participants had been diagnosed over ten years prior, four participants were diagnosed between seven and nine years before their interview, six participants between five and six years previously, and nine participants had been living with the diagnosis for less than five years, with two of these receiving the diagnosis in the preceding two years.
